PRAYER
Let’s turn pride month into prayer month (Cindy Matson at Bible Study Nerd): It’s upon us once again: 30 days of unremitting, unapologetic, rainbow-banner-waving support for the LGBTQ+ movement. While I admit that I’d much rather bury my head in the sand and ignore this aggressive campaign, I’m convinced that we followers of Christ must launch a campaign of our own. I’m not talking about petitions, protests, or boycotts. I want to see the Body of Christ use the next thirty days to storm the gates of heaven for our own souls, families, churches, community, nation, and world.
EVANGELISM
7 reasons why your church should engage in door-to-door evangelism (Jake Wright at 9Marks): A few years ago, our church started a door-to-door evangelism project called “Reach Carthage.” So far, we’ve shared the gospel at over 1,000 homes in our community, and members from our church who had never verbally communicated the gospel to an unbeliever took advantage of the opportunity. Door-to-door evangelism tends to get a bad rap, and many Christians question its effectiveness. But in our experience, the people in our community have responded positively. At about half of the homes we visit, someone answers the door and a positive conversation ensues.
SPIRITUAL LIFE
Not dead yet: Fighting nine fears of old age (John Piper at Desiring God): I need to join you in the fight against the fears of aging by faith in future grace. I have nine fears we will walk through together, and I’ll give you biblical antidotes for those fears. These antidotes will work through faith, and without faith they won’t work. But by faith they will work, and fear will be overcome, and we will go to be with Jesus in due time without walking in fear during our last season. That’s my hope.
You are with me (Justin Huffman): Jesus Christ alone purely has our good at heart, and he alone has the wisdom to guide us there. Every comfort not grounded in Christ is a false comfort, a destructive comfort. Every other comfort — whether as obviously false and destructive as heroin or not — is a false and destructive comfort nonetheless.
Help! My job asks me to communicate unbiblical messages (Miranda Carls at The Gospel Coalition): While you may be responding to an assignment from your employer, you’re ultimately the one putting those words out into the world. And so you bear responsibility for what they say. So let’s consider if your writing can exist in harmony with some of the foundational purposes of the Christian life.
CHURCH
6 truths about the church’s future (Bob Thune at The Gospel Coalition): We’re hearing a lot these days about de-churching, deconstruction, and decline. Church attendance in America is dropping. Is this a crisis or merely a correction? Is it more of a problem or an opportunity? What can we expect for the future of the American church landscape?
Lord, do it again (Tim Keller at The Gospel Coalition): The ordinary operations of the Holy Spirit are conviction, conversion, assurance, and sanctification. When those operations are intensified across church, denomination, city, or country, you’ve got revival. And when you’ve got revival, three things usually happen.
What’s expected of a church member? (Paul Sadler at Grace Baptist Church): Church membership isn’t a marriage vow. There’s no “’til death do us part.” But there are similar dynamics at play. We make basic commitments to one another because we believe they help preserve our faith. God puts children of God into the family of God in order to protect and strengthen believers against the inevitable tendencies to sin, complacency, selfishness, and error. And the commitments we make help to clarify how we’re to be family to one another.
MINISTRY
5 tips for a pastor in a slump (HB Charles at The Gospel Coalition): What should you do when you begin to lose your sense of spiritual devotion and discipline in ministry? The author draws from the life of Elisha drawing lessons from a floating axe head.
BIBLE INSIGHT
The beginning and the end: Enjoying the God-centeredness of the Bible (Stephen Witmer at Desiring God): The overarching storyline of the Bible is the story of God — the only one present at both the beginning and the end. Everyone (and everything) else is there in the story as an invited guest, beyond their deserving. All the complexities of human existence, and the vast lifespans of galaxies, exist within the eternal story of God.
A biblical theology of clothing (Mitchell Chase at Crossway): The events in the garden of Eden aimed forward. When God clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skins, this action communicated both compassion and provision. With nakedness and shame connected, God provided an appropriate covering through animal death.